Monday, 29 November 2010

Get some killer Grindcore bands, put a few Powerviolence bands here and there, chuck in Scott Hull, and what do you get yourself? You get yourself one hell of a killer Compilation. This second instalment to his This Comp Kills Fascists series, compacting about 20 more songs compared to the predecessor allowing for a 13 minutes of longer play before you luddites hit he play button again or switch the disc. or as tech savy infidels just set up a play queue. Featuring a plethora of bands that I am sure even the most grind minded have not heard all of the bands on the list, hell I actually felt guilty for not knowing some of these, because they all are pretty damn good and not in the give it a once listen good, but the insatiable hunger for more material good. It doesn't pack quite the same knock-out punch as the first, but its one hell of bloody mess of a second round, and by far the best compilation I have heard in 2010. Its sole purpose according to Relapse is to be a comp of the best underground bands, and that it does a fantastic job of, although perhaps a bit too American centric to really fulfil the title to the full. However the non-U.S. talent is certainly a fantastic ear drum crushing selection of Grind, special shout out to Idiots Parade who belt out in both musically and female fronted form a take on Suffering Mindstake no prisoners Grind, although have a bit of work to do to trump Suffering Mindslatest Grindcore Holocaust,but they are certainly one to keep a keen eye on or both.

Once again Scott Hull has shown his better at making a release then any sort of mixtape you can conceive,through a vast plethora of blunt force trauma Grind which every few minutes rotates to give you an alternate form of punishment on your ears, you are left satisfied and yearning for a trilogy or beyond.

My name is Cody, I'm 18 and am living in California, currently waiting to attend college in January. I am fairly involved in the Grindcore and Latin Anarcho Punk scenes. I started listening to Anarcho Punk when I was 13 and then developed a liking to Crust and D-Beat. However, it wasn't until I heard Terrorizer's World Downfall that I discovered my love for Grindcore. I post regularly on a Grindcore forum which is where I came into contact with Alex. After a few posts regarding various topics I was kindly offered a position here on Grind to Death and of course I accepted. I have never really cared for Grindcore that falls more on the Metal side of the fence but I do occasionally have some exceptions, however mainly I will be posting short, fast, intense, and occassionally noisey material. Enough about me, onto the review.

Upon hearing Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition, you may think "Wow, another cheesy, lame goregrind band" but this is certainly not the case, well at least not anymore. In the early days, SCD was just another Goregrind band with no lyrics and horribly generic tunes. It wasn't until the 2006 split with Cripple Bastards that they start migrating away from that scene. Inventory of Fixtures changed everything though and is now where the band resides, a more political and social spectrum. This 2007 album is relentless and full of ultimately catchy riffs that will stay in your brain long after you've finished listening. The vocals are being shared by a few different members and mainly consist of Seb's low, drawn out grunt that is somewhat reminiscent of Insect Warfare. I dig the vocals. The drums are very nicely executed on this album as well, the snare has a nice sound that isn't too abrasive and overall the drums have a nice Grindcore touch to them, with blastbeats being performed at maximum capability. This album may not be very iconic but its very evolutionary for this band and I have listened to it quite a few times in the past couple of months. It is said that they will do a split or two and then begin on another full length. Anything this band releases in the future will certainly be better and better, this album is definitely worth a listen and if you dig it then buy it. I will be posting quite frequently since I have absolutely nothing to do until January where I will begin my studies and ultimately follow the inconsistent and abhorrent path of life. I look forward to reviewing and interviewing some great bands, cheers!

Friday, 26 November 2010

Anyone who describes their music as Biker Viking Metal, you know without a doubt your immediate thought is that these are gonna be some big dudes you don't want to mess with, then some time after you will begin to think hang on what the hell is Biker Viking Metal ! Luckily I will take you readers on a journey of describing what it is, done through the median of an analytical critique of Guilty as Sin'slatest release III.
Firstly this is one hell of a mind fuck of an album when you try to assign the standard rules of genre and music to it, and after many a perplexed session I am pretty sure I have untangled the mess and can safely attribute what Biker Viking Metal entails.
We have moments worthy of true thrash metal homage to the musical perception of dirty knuckle head biker guitar work riding alongside a bashing piston of percussion, greatly showcased in their first track Truth Serum, which intermittently to breaks into a quiet monologue of the inner voice to and fro, giving a creepy factor to their thrashing energetic tempo.

They certainly maintain for the most part an ethos of angry hairy bikers, consistently maintaining a upbeat dynamic of thrash with fluctuations of raw punk and the occasional drop of death metal made all the more harsh by moments of rhythmic riffing, creating a fluid and enjoyable metal experience. They do often break off from the perception of Bad to the Bone Bikers, and enter into a more Zen like whimsical tunes akin to that of metals early greats, although not my cup of tea I certainly did not dislike it, and it was executed in a well constructed manner. As the album progresses midway we get more of these "spiritual" metal moments and less thrash attack although it makes appearances, we even have an entry of a more oriental kind which certainly gives a fresh and innovative approach, but may leave some dumbfounded or shocked. Towards the latter section we come back to catchy metal wave with the final track embodying all their variances across the album.
Not quite what I perceived the genre to sound like, certainly no Viking by my account but not in a negative light either this seems to be a very diverse and unique, which I am sure will attract the more open minded metal fan, but not so the more secular.
Personally, Guilty as Sin I would recommend to have a bit more brutish and harsh vocals to give that give that extra oomph, and additionally perhaps draw out a bit more the contrast of the heavier and lighter moments, however they do make fantastic use fast and slow paces to give a more superfluous edge to the album, and despite chucking about half a dozen genres in a blender their musicianship is able to maintain a very decent consistency of quality and certainly create an unique album, whose integrity has not been lost at the expense of experimentation.

Thursday, 25 November 2010

(Not a post as such but rather a work around since I can't get static pages to work, sorry all subscribers!.)

To follow this blog on other social platforms, a list with links are below, a link to the original post on this site will be published on each platform the moment I click the publish post button, this is to allow those of you who don't use rss readers to follow this blog, all thanks to the miracle of DLVR.

Wednesday, 24 November 2010

Having seen the Slayer Christmas Lights, I have come to realise that there is inf act an entire series of 8 bit Slayer fan made tracks on youtube, hell even at 1/40th of the sound quality the songs still retain their thrash factor, with a gloss of nostalgia from the old Gameboy Colour days in true nintendocore bleeping style. Hope you guys like it, I am off to play some old school GBC games (emulated on a DS), so long suckers!

Sunday, 21 November 2010

Who doesnt love Magrudergrind if you say me then I am going to have to take as a guess that you haven't heard them, and are just saying so to piss me off, although this is all irrelevant as I can't hear you say these things, but what is relevant is that their latest E.P Crusher is out for free yes you heard me for free! For those interested in the controversy surrounding it and my defensive rage over the subject matter, look no further than here.

There are some moments in history where not only do the ideologies of the old and pragmatism collide, the very origins of what the system stood for are tipped on its head in a reversal of morality and customs in such a significant shift that in one day it can be defined by a former antonym. This has recently taken form in the recent Magrudergrindcontroversy, for those who have no clue what I am on about, fear not for I shall elaborate. Car Manufacturers Scion being the North Americas arm of what is known as Toyota for the rest of us, have funded a number of Magrudergrind shows, which has allowed Magrudergrind to perform these shows to their audiences for free, and more recently Scion agreed to pay for all costs of recording & production of their new E.P Crusher.
The backlash to this has been very venomous with people; metal heads and punks alike bringing up the old punk rhetorics of "DIY or Die!" and "Down with the Corporations" which although are gross simplifications of the arguments they serve well as summarising the general attitude, and one that is to be expected given Grindcore is a bastion of punk ideals. Now I have kudos for those who remain the Punxs for Life, and have conviction with what they do, however I do not belong to this side of the camp, and the time has come for me to be drafted in the ranks of the reactionaries and defend Magrudergrind. Lets face the facts Punk is dead, not musically but ethically, there are small pockets of true punks here and there and once again I salute you, but many of those nowadays in my generation from experience are those who like the aura and allure of the scene but not the responsibility, a true and unrelated story is when I was on the bus once there were a number of punks sitting on the back of the bus talking shit about how unfair the world is, and when an old woman asked if she could sit down in one of their seats they told her that it was a free country and they were sat there first and therefore were going to stay sat there, only afterwards to continue talking about how unfair the world is and how it should be changed, talk about hypocrisy and ignorance. However coming back to the argument as I have illustrated ethically punk is near enough as good as dead, and for those who still promote its cause have neglected one of its more important ethics, the thou shall not work for the man nor cash in from him on page 2 of the unwritten Lex Punkus, we have Henry Rollins whose done work for MTV, Johnny Rotten whose done adverts for butter to name a few, so complaining that Grindcore has sold out based on a singular event is an exaggeration and perhaps you should pay attention to your own house before critiquing ours.
You could justifiably question the business practice of Scion asking why on earth are they doing this, but to critique the business practice and conduct of the band in a childish manner has really missed the whole point of it all, and bears no significance on anything remotely connected.

The worst argument which I have seen twice now, but only once in the application of this current scenario was that Grindcore should not only have no corporate element to it, but it should be a taboo subject so that it gains an underground notoriery. Possibly the single most ignorant thing I have heard in a long time, evidently the commenter whose identity and link I shall spare has never grasped the concept that merchandise, recording studios and record labels are all in themselves either corporations or corporate tools , the music industry is a business even with something as remote as Grindcore, luckily we have not reached the obscene levels of cash that have destroyed entire genres, but having subsistence level income has allowed bands to continue writing material and putting out there, as belonging to a label or having merchandise cushions the economic blow to releasing material, and allows you to continue doing so upping their game each time. And the whole fiasco of not speaking about is negated by the fact that you have a blog and on occasion talk about Grindcore!
In fact any criticism about this issue towards the band is completely unjust, the band have made the right decision, they write their music for their fans, and when they were by sheer luck offered to play for their fans for free, and have their latest EP released for free at non of their economic expense, they did the right choice and agreed. Grindcore may have been a lifestyle regulated in its lyrical ideals, but I belong in the side of the camp where to me its just music(and a addictive life consuming addiction), of which the lyrics take a poetic application (albeit a very grim and loud one) instead of a legislative role. I was pleased to see that of those who had slandered the band were quickly met with fierce counter arguments by a larger community, it would appear that those who don't care about the corporate friendship with our musical scene is much larger than I expected, either that or we are the more computer literate group.
I think its almost admirable that Scion, are investing in a social project of a obscure and stigmatised music genre, the music kicks ass, and the production value can really be seen, but I shall leave that for my review, all that needs to reiterated is that Magrudergrind made the right choice, and that corporations can go hand in hand with our music.

If you want a copy you can download the digital here or order it for free bar postage and packaging here, enjoy.

Thursday, 18 November 2010

Is it treason to admit liking Canadian Mincemaniacs Archagathus more than the founding mincer the one and only Agathocles? In any case I am sure we can agree on a number of things, firstly that both bands are good regardless of who's better than who, and secondly in true Mincecore fashion these guys produce a hell of alot of material. Luckily keeping up with the extensive discographies is made easier through a nifty tool known as an anthology,(someone please tell Agathocles this) And Archagathus' Mincecore Fever is exactly that, a anthology of their works from 2005 to the present, which would explain that the album art is a collection of album arts from their discography.

We have 40 tracks saturated in archaic Grind, splashing out bellowing grunts and screams occasionally timed to add impact to the peak of either a percussion bombardment with a filthy riff flung here and there. The music sounds gritty and rough cut throughout, there is something about the crude machinations of their work resembling that of neolithic man attempting music with the skull and bone of his foe replaced with that of a drum-kit and drumsticks. Furthermore the music awakens a number of primitive mechanics in your brain from their slumber, a sense of joy whilst having the desire to scream and thrash around, and pull a middle finger to authority, in true mincecore fashion.Archagathus despite being a tribute band to Agathocles, seem to be more refined in the production of mincecore, everything seems to be more co-ordinated and tends to flow a bit more superflously, and their production quality lacks a static discharge that is on a numerous Agathocles releases, although this could be argued as deviating from Mincecore rules, I personally prefer it this way, giving a fresh face to a method that we have seen hundreds of times over.
So if you wish to hear the best Agathocles worship with a tweak here and there, then this certainly is one release to lay your paws on.

Saturday, 13 November 2010

Here are a few videos of Napalm Death on various television programs, predominantly from the U.K, the first I find hilarious, perhaps it wont translate so well given cultural differences, but to cut a long story short the BBC is perhaps the most conservative and prim and proper broadcasting organisation in the U.K, and to have N.D. on it is quite the shock. Anyway enjoy!

Prolific Mincecoreaholics Agathocles, have reached the double digits for their full length album count, entitled This is not a threat, its a promise, they deliver once again their anti-authoritarian down with the system grind, throwing a few little twists here and there to prevent it from sounding like one of their countless other releases. Personally whenever I wish to bitch about some institution, I either do so with my rag tag consortium down the pub accompanied with alcohol, or send a hateful tweet for all of my 6 followers to see, however Agathocles take the more creative and long winded route of releasing a split EP with any band on the planet. Now judging by my tone, you may get the impression that I don't like Agathocles, and such an assumption will be wrong, I love Agathocles, I love their extensive discography (its like PokemonI have to get them all!), and definitely one of the few bands with real conviction in what they say out there, their music is crude and primitive and somehow it becomes a blast of raging political poetry warped around a set of blast beats and pounding bass.This is not a threat, its a promise goes 21st century with tirades against the banking industry, the internet, false punks and a plethora of other topics, adding humorous jibes here and there to give a nice smile to their otherwise staunch message. Is it a good thing that I found parts of the release fun? I personally think so ,after all even grindcore need not be all doom and gloom 100% of the time. Spicing it up with a combo of micro-songs and those going above the three minute mark, we have a palatable selection of 27 songs that bring out nothing but the finest Agathocles across a half hour session of mincing.
For the most part we have the traditional tried and tested angry Agathocles, dirty vocals, fast bass d & blast beating drums with a slow churning guitar, you know the method, yeah that one, the only one.They do start of a bit more forceful than usual belting out two tracks of whiplash in just over a minute. However we do get a few unprecedented twists and turns every so often, including a surprising yet greatly delightful singular reggae interjection which they manage to weave in and out in a impressive manner.This is Not a Threat, its a Promise is a flagship of what Agathocles are and always will be; the loud voice against injustice and their trademark unkempt regnant musical accompaniment.

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Without a doubt the most vulgar and callous band on the planet are Massachusetts(spelt correctly first time!) home grown abomination; Anal Cunt. The name of the band goes back to the ancient Buddhist riddle of "What is the most stupid, dumb and yet offensive name possible?", and it took a bunch of pill popping drunkards to come up with it, and then attribute it to their band. Little did they know how fucked up the band would become, as it began its head first plunge into depravity. Fronted by the most notorious man in music and with the exception of politicians, lawyers, dictators and serial killers probably the most notorious man on the planet; Seth Putnam. If I was to write every single messed up thing this guy ever did, and everyone he has ever pissed off then I would have to take out a publishing contract and release it as a biography. All you need to know is Seth Putnam is obnoxious and extremely political incorrect, and he transgresses this offensive attitude into his band, and for all this vulgarity we love these guys and hold them with great esteem!

Without a doubt this is my favourite release by Anal Cunt, song titles are akin to the simplistic early teens humour where you could add the words is gay or sucks to any noun and you would get a few chuckles out of it. Still generally a incoherent rambling of guitars and drums like early A.C., you will catch the odd injection of song structure and "melody" to their short burst of songs. Aside from their infamous brand of noise and offensive humour, the most recognisable trait of A.C. is Putnams piercing shrills, where he screeches out all manner of profanity and insults in quick successive bursts, having listened to this release so often I manage to pick up a crude sentence here and there, and as expected only foul mouthed insults seem to leave Putnams lips.

They have dropped their frequent racist ruse, which I believe is more to create stigma and notoriety than actual any far right ideology, only on one occasion have I spotted a racist statement in this album, but generally the theme has been left out. Featuring the only known fan musical tribute to the legendary child's game Hungry, Hungry Hippos, A.C. have altered their humorous lyrics from the down right offensive to include general absurdities with plenty of You do this, or that is gay and so and so is this and that, they offer unique sense of humour that which may not accommodate for all, but for those that still remember the days of early teen absurdism then this one for you, providing of course you can take a whole 42 minutes of predominantly homophobic ranting.

Friday, 5 November 2010

Not only has Mr.Prentice designed by hand our oh so excellent Looking for an Answer crossed with Birdflesh logo, he has gone out of his routine of saving blind orphans from a Al-Qaeda to dedicate a bellowing triumph to this site. Unsurprisingly named Grind to Death it belongs to his Noisy Grind project Corporation, although originally we had two tracks to present to you readers the second track has gone Awol, hopefully it will return and we can present a second round of head bashing fury. Feel free to comment on the song and for those of you interest in hearing his other non-grind material just click here. Once again Justin I owe you a drink!

You really must be one hell-bent bunch packed with a gross excess of aggression to call your album Death to Everyone, remember everyone includes yourself and your poor mother who carried your kick boxing fetus around for 9 months. However to tell the truth we expect this sort of behaviour from the same man who brought us a chilling and abrasive Grindcore straight out of California known simply as Excruciating Terror. However Jerry Flores current band Bloody Phoenix are a d-beat incarnate of a Excruciating Terror lite, offering a combination of primitive grind chucked in a blender with D-beat masters Discharge.Death to Everyone, is certainly in the realms of the filthy punks and in the long haired layabouts of early Grind and offers a well rounded fusion of the two and has really captured the nitty gritty feel of the underground music scene of the 80's. Although Bloody Phoenix are the best d-beating grinders out there (if you can recommend any let me know) I feel that Death to Everyone lacks the clout that really defines Grindcore, it seems to me they are one element short of a out of this world release, it is something that War, Hate & Misery had but seems to be lacking in Death to Everyone sadly its something I can't point my finger at. Either way this is one kick ass release recommended for fans of D-beat and Grind alike, just not their best release.

To declare you objective as to "Grind against Humanity", offer well constructed quasi nihilistic existentialist arguments, and outwit with complete sincerity the smartest man in Grind you certainly take the role of a Grindcore band more seriously than the lets make a noise crowd. Suffering Mind, are amongst the brightest minds in the genre, add that to their schizoid musical approach and we have a band who combine a riveting vocal ear bashing with a killer slice 'n' dice crusty right hook.
These guys are the embodiment of what early Grind was, with a supererogatory of lyrics and crust these guys out-grind the founding fathers at every level, for these politically charged critics early-grind has neither stagnated nor decayed, they have upped the ante of the old school, bringing back glory to the roots of the genre.

Forget your Agathocles, forget your Napalm Death, these old timers have only become machines of a pre-fabricated response, they have never taken the time to sit down and answer the most pertinent question being Why?, Suffering Mind take their lyrical concept a step above and try to give reasoning to punk perceived injustices, with a myriad of out of the blue ideas they thread together to give substance to their conviction, and I most admit they are pretty sound and eye opening, I highly recommend checking out their Hydra system idea, once again here, which also has a song dedicated to it on this beast of self titled LP.
Lashing out in her native language; Polish, Ulka creates a sound of urgency only to have in a matter of moments her flip the table and release an inner beast wreak havoc on her vocal chords.
Making use of slow and fast time signatures they seamlessly shift from one catchy riff to another and have in true old school style have a blast beat tear up any moments that you may have actually felt peaceful. All instrumental parts are executed fantastically well and with a clear cut production value the brilliance of their musicianship shines through. The music on the whole seems like an going battle with the more profound "power riff" accompanied with a potent vocal face searing against a frantic blast beat overload and short and loud bursts of screams, this contrasting musical approaches collide together frequently and do so with much grace and decibels.
Clocking in at 18 minutes, these Polish grinders trample underfoot the two and half decade long list of achievements by the titans of the genre, this self-titled LP is the only introduction people need to the genre. Aside from literally bursting with purified Grind, Suffering Mind have brought all that is good from the old, casting away its now defunct and decrepit traits and fashioned the trimmings in such a way that it competes with some of the greatest stuff out there old and new, this is certainly one of the best albums of the year if not the best, if you don't have it then I pity you for this LP is definitely one to have.